I’ve been making clafoutis for years now and it’s become a regular spring and summer dessert staple. The reason being is during these seasons I often find myself with too many cherries, blackberries, or Italian plums around on the verge of turning bad on me which is where the clafoutis comes in. Since it requires only a small amount of the most basic baking ingredients I can whip it up in a flash, use the neglected fruit, and impress the friends I feed it to. (“Oh this?! It’s just a simple French clafoutis I bammed out. Nothing fancy.”)

There are dozens of different clafoutis recipes, each unique to their owner and this particular one is my own. I find it has just the right texture between custard and cake. A smidge of brown sugar gives it a slightly darker flavor, and a small smattering of slivered almonds along with splash of Amaretto give the clafoutis a certain je ne sais quoi. If you’re a fan of desserts with little work and a lot of payoff, then clafoutis is the way to go.

Cherry Clafouti Recipe

Yield:Serves 6.

Traditional clafoutis recipes call for using cherries with their pits still in, which are supposed to lend some almond flavor to the dish. In this recipe the pits are removed, making the clafouti easier to eat, but you can do it either way.

4 Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool dust the clafoutis with powdered sugar. Serve.

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78 Comments

debbie

Mmm, clafoutis! But I’ve only ever made a cherry one with jarred cherries: too lazy to pit them and I don’t like the idea of breaking a tooth on a little rock. This looks gorgeous, and I love the almond/amaretto addition.

Fresh picked cherries taste like summer. Garrett- you created a beautiful dish. I have always wanted to make a clafouti. I may have to be brave and attempt it (gluten-free and vegan; but it’s doable, right?).

Karina – I once made a gluten-free clafouti with almond flour and figs which turned out great. Just make sure you use the almond flour that is from blanched almonds. If it has specks from the skin it will be too bitter.

Clafouti is my breakfast item of choice. My grandma started making it for my grandfather because he would not eat breakfast otherwise and I do just the same. Always lovely to see around. Beautiful picture!

Elise’s pictures are always so stunning. And Helen, I agree with you, clafoutis makes for a perfect breakfast! ~Garrett

Last summer, I was on Vancouver Island at Fairburn Farm. We enjoyed a wonderful cherry clafoutis. Each guest was asked to keep their cherry pits. Whoever had the most pits, won a prize of some sort (in this case I believe it was a gift certificate for dinner). It’d be fun to do something like that at the end of dinner with friends. Maybe whoever has the most pits has to host next!

I have never tried making clafoutis, but I will since it sounds quite easy AND I might even be able to save some cherries from our tree from the birds.
Does the clafoutis come out of the dish or do you serve it IN the dish?

Just cut it into pieces and serve. The pieces should come out no problem due to buttering and flouring the dish. ~Garrett

The clafoutis looks delicious. I’ve been meaning to try and make one, but keep eating all the cherries and end up with none left.

But did you know that, traditionaly, clafoutis should be done with un-pitted cherries? Apparently, the traditional clafoutis flavour comes from the pits. While baking, they give flavour to the dough. Or so they say!

I mention that in the note on the recipe. Feel free to leave the pits in, but I find it makes for much easier eating without. ~Garrett

The first cherry clafoutis I ever made was from illicitly picked (as we later discovered) sour cherries growing by a canal in Burgundy. We were in a barge at the time and floated away with the farmer still shaking his fist at us. I’ve made other clafoutis since, but none ever matched the amazing flavor that those French cherries gave to my first attempt.

We planted a cherry tree quite a few years ago now and found clafouti recipes when searching out what to do with all the cherries. We will have to try this one for sure. This is very similar to an apple flognard. Both are “ancient” recipies.

We just made cherry clafoutis a couple of weeks ago. We had been dying to make it for so long. Yours looks wonderful and we want to try your recipe. Our was eggy and very custardy so we are curious as to how this one will turn out. Thanks!

I saw this recipe and just HAD to try it. I am so glad I did. It is amazing and melts in your mouth. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful Recipe. We didn’t have a few things, almonds, amaretto, vanilla but it still turned out great. I’m eating it as we speak with ice cream. :) Have a Beautiful Day.

Oh my goodness! This was good. I used a bag of frozen raspberries for this recipe and it turned out wonderfully. I took the berries and lightly coated them with flour and poured them into the baking dish. No problems at all.

I had clafouti for the first time a few weeks ago at a restaurant and LOVED it. I wanted to replicate at home but for the life of me couldn’t remember what it was called, so thanks Elise and Garrett! The clafouti I had was blueberry… do you think the almonds and amaretto would still work with that? Or does anyone have better suggestions?

I have only made this with cherries or blackberries, if anyone wants to try any other spices, herbs, flavors or fruits go with my blessing and give it a shot. If it works or if it doesn’t I hope you’ll let us know. ~Garrett

Christina – You don’t happen to have a friend from Australia coming to visit you, do you? I’m from Australia and in just over a week I’m escaping winter and coming to the states! I would LOVE to make this using some fresh berries picked there. Would frozen berries thawed be a technically correct substitute? What about apricots with cinnamon and perhaps nutmeg?

I make clafouti often in the spring and summer when fresh fruit is abundant. I don’t use just cherries, I use peaches, blueberries, strawberries, fresh figs, etc., whatever I have in abundance. I don’t think I even follow a recipe, I just adjust amounts based on how much I want to make. It’s rather forgiving, isn’t it?

But, since my kitchen is gluten-free (no wheat) and generally low carb, I make clafouti with either almond flour/meal or coconut flour and less sugar than is usually called for (most of the time I sub maple syrup or honey for the granulated sugar.

And I love the amount of eggs in this sort of treat – I use pastured “backyard” eggs from chickens who eat a naturally omnivorous diet of bugs, worms, and green leaves, not just grain & soy based chicken feed – eggs provide a decent amount of protein and nutrients to balance the sugar. So leftover clafouti stands in for a good snack or easy breakfast for my son to dish up himself. If I have abundant eggs I add an extra yolk or two to make it really rich and extra nutritious.

When I have abundant fruit, I make two clafoutis and share one with neighbors. The effort is the same, so why not?

Great easy recipe … because I had a lot of berries and no cherries, I used 1 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of blackberries and it turned out great …. since I wasn’t sure about the almond extract w/ the berries I reduced it to 1/4 tsp (based on another berry clafouti recipe on the web). Now, however, I think that the amount of almond extract in the recipe would work fine. also only had 2/3 cup milk so used 1/3 cup soy milk.

I make clafouti frequently with summer fruits – whatever is local, seasonal, abundant, and not too juicy – fresh figs, peaches, apricots, strawberries, etc. I actually don’t use cherries very often because they aren’t an easily crop grown in Southern California, so not local.

My version is Gluten-Free. I use about 1/4 cup coconut flour or 1/3 to 1/2 cup almond flour instead of wheat flour (varies depending on how much I am making). I also lower the sugar content. I’ve used coconut milk as well as cow milk, plain yogurt, too. I don’t do low fat. I often add spices like cardamon, cinnamon, allspice, you know, “pie spices”.

Clafouti batter is very forgiving in my experience, as long as you use enough eggs to “set” the custard. I often add a extra yolk or two to enrich the flavor and the nutrient content. Once I start making clafouti in the late spring/early summer and my memory of the batter is refreshed, I rarely consult a recipe; I just “eyeball” amounts based on ratios and how much fruit I have/how much clafouti I want to make/size of the baking dish.

I usually make the clafouti for dessert because it’s so easy and full of healthy ingredients (esp low sugar, no grain versions with pastured eggs). But leftovers are also great for breakfast and nutritious snacks (easy for my 10 year old to dish up for himself). Clafouti is a favorite with our family.

This looks amazing. I have a similar recipe and once I ended up using cranberries because my cherries had gone bad. It worked so well I made it another time with rhubarb. I think those substitutions might work for this cake, too.

I made this in a 2.5 quart round casserole dish because I did not have the 10 x 7 dish or a 9 x 9 square (loaf pan, 8 x 8 or 9 x 13 is all I have), and it worked just fine. Used almond extract. My husband loved it but thought we should try the amaretto next time. Delicious, definitely a keeper! Thanks for another great recipe!

I made this wonderful Cherry Clafouti. It was my first time to make and eat a Clafouti. I added fresh raspberries along with the cherries and served it to my Bible study group of 5. We all gave it a thumbs up. It reminded me of the fruit and custard pie, (without the crust) that my mom used to make. I will definately make this easy recipe again. I wonder if I can double the recipe and do in a 9 x 13 pan to take to carry-in meals? Thanks Garrett for sharing.

Can’t wait to try this! The recipe I’ve used in past is much simpler. I like the addition of the amaretto and slivered almonds. After next farmer’s market, I’ll give the gluten free version a try with almond flour probably. Mmmmm. Thanks for posting!

I have never had or made clafoutis, but I love cherries and trying new things, so I was excited to try this recipe out! The cherry and almond flavors mesh beautifully, what a great taste! Oh, and warm cherries, mmmm! It definitely had a French style/taste to it too. My only complaint was that it tasted kind of eggy, but maybe its supposed to taste that way? I wouldn’t know since I have never had it before. I realize it is custard-esque, therefore many eggs, but did anyone else notice the egg taste?

It should taste eggy due to the many eggs and little flour. The fresher your eggs (Farmer’s Markets!) the better the clafoutis. ~Garrett

Thanks for the tip Garrett. I would definitely make it again. I actually just had some with my coffee this morning and I think it tasted even better after it sat overnight! I am going to have to share it with neighbors before I eat the whole thing myself! Maybe it was the heat that made me think of cooked eggs.

I love clafoutis for breakfast! Delicious cold with a hot cup of Darjeeling. ~Garrett

I tried this dish last night and all of my cherries and almonds floated to the top before it baked. :( Not that everything didn’t taste good together, it just wasn’t as pretty as I was hoping. Any tips for helping it all stick together?

Garrett, I decided to go buy the whole milk for this and I also used fresh blueberries. Plus I made it low carb and it tasted great. I used Splenda for the sugar (I’ll reduce the amount next time) Splenda brown sugar and Carbquick for the flour.
The blueberries made the bottom a funny color but it still tasted great. :)

I just made this and enjoyed it very much (cherries and raspberries, no Amaretto as the kids had it too). Next time I will double the batter, though, as I felt there wasn’t enough “dough” around the fruit.

You should be able to use Amaretto as the alcohol will cook out. ~Garrett

OMG! This is so good! And so EASY! I’m making it with cherries for the first time today. I’ve made it with fresh blueberries and with fresh raspberries (my fav so far). Yummy! Like Sarah said in another post, my husband and I scarfed down the whole thing in a day! I need to say that I left out the almonds and “flavoring” and it still was delicious!

Mine did not rise. I don’t know if the dish was too big, but it seemed like very little dough. I peeked in the oven a few times, but it did not rise like in your picture. When it started getting brownish on the top, I took it out. I cut it to check and it was still moist inside. Is it supposed to be like this? Either way, it was very flat.

It should be moist but not runny and should have a custard-like consistency. As for being flat, yes, it should be somewhat so. ~Garrett

This turned out great! It didnt exactly come out as the pictures but it tasted amazing! I didnt have almond extract or amaretto but I thought it was still good. I used strawberries instead and it was delicious. Thanks for the recipe!

Garrett, this was delicious!! I noticed one comment asked about lactose intolerance; it can absolutely be made with de-lactosed (is that how you call it?) milk. I’m intolerant too; however, I made it with regular milk and it’s just fine. Thanks a lot!! Oh, did I mention it is so fast and effortless?? WOW!! Greetings from Mexico!

Hi guys! I’m not at all the kitchen type, but I could not miss this clafouti. I’ve made it twice since reading the recipe: once for me and my boyfriend and the second for my parents. They were absolutely crazy about it and even though mom only enters the kitchen to prepare a tea or boil an egg she said she has to try it too. Unfortunately we will have to wait for next year’s fresh cherries. But you made it worthy! Thanx for the delight! Regards from Romania!

I just made this for my family this morning using 2 1/2 cups of apricots, and an apricot nut and crushed almond mixture instead of the slivered almonds. It was delicious! We were scraping the pan it was so good. :D Thank you!

What did I do wrong? This recipe tasted absolutely divine but had a most unpleasant “gummy” texture (not a custardy kinda texture at all). My guests seemed quite impressed (they each requested a copy of the recipe :-) ) but I wasn’t wild about the texture. Should I add more eggs or egg yolks? Would beating it harder have made a difference? I love Bird’s Custard powder: would adding some of that be a good idea?
I’d like to hear what y’all think.

Not familiar with the custard powder you mention. As for the gumminess, I can’t quite say. A simple beating till the ingredients are combined should do the trick. ~Garrett

This was delicious! I seriously CAN NOT bake, but I made this for dinner and it turned out perfect! It was so good that I couldn’t get enough. And even my friend, who is French, said it’s very close to what his mother used to make. Can’t believe how easy it is and how good it is. Amazing… thank you for the recipe!

This recipe seems amazing! I am making this for a project and have to double the recipe to serve 12. I did some research on multiplying recipes and I think that I can just double everything except for the salt and the baking time (Which I will watch closely and configure manually). Is this right? I’m making this tomorrow so please respond!

Should work fine I would think. Just use a big enough pan as it might not work if the vessel you cook it in isn’t wide enough (too deep might result in liquid insides and burnt outsides). ~Garrett

I love your blog full of delicious ideas, recipes and photos.You have expanded my culinary adventures. One request…would you be so kind as to phonetically translate some of the dishes that you make? How does one correctly prounounce ‘clafouti’, for example. There is nothing like making an exotic dish and then not knowing how to say it–or saying it wrong and having the ‘guest’ correct you!

This recipe was fantastic! Since we have a sour cherry tree in our yard I opted to use sour cherries rather than sweet cherries. I didn’t add any extra sugar and everyone thought it was delicious. There was a nice contrast between the sour cherries and sweet custard. If someone else wanted to try with sour cherries but didn’t like the tartness I would suggest adding only a couple extra teaspoons of sugar.

I made this clafoutis with fresh cherries – the first crop from my new tree! ;) It was excellent. I left out the almond extract because I didn’t have it, but everything else was so quick to pull together. And I have some left over for breakfast tomorrow, which is even better.

Eeek… I just tried this recipe for the first time and it came out really, really sweet. I was curious so I compared it to other clafoutis recipes around the web and it seems like this one has a LOT more sugar. The Julia Child recipe has only 1/3rd a cup of white sugar and no brown sugar. I couldn’t find any other recipes that called for 3 eggs and a full cup plus of sugar. Is that just a matter of taste? The sugar pretty much drowned out my cherries.

All recipes vary. If you want, feel free to reduce the sugar in this recipe or try various other recipes to see what works best for you. ~Garrett

Love the clafoutis recipe. I would have never thought to put almonds in it but what a clever idea! I bought a cherry pitter for $10 at Target and it was the best money ever spent. I had my 6-year-old pitting cherries for an hour and it really kept him busy. He was proud of his work and I appreciated his help.

I used only half a cup of white sugar, still used the brown sugar and powdered sugar for dusting, and got rave reviews. I think you could use even less sugar if it was to be for breakfast instead of dessert.

I served this as the fifth course at a “french” dinner party. It was a perfect ending. I used mixed berries which I marinated in kirsch first, and omitted the amaretto. Everyone loved it. Every man at the table had seconds! (I think the ladies wanted to, but had better will power.)